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Saber
Saber (セイバー, Seibā) is one of the three main heroines of Fate/stay night. She is the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya in the Fourth Holy Grail War and Shirou Emiya in the Fifth Holy Grail War. After becoming the Servant of Sakura Matou in the Heaven's Feel route, she is known as Saber Alter (セイバー・オルタナティブ, Saber Alternative) or Black Saber (黒セイバー, Kuro Seibā). Description Saber has the appearance of a young woman in her late teens with a slender physique and light, soft blonde hair. When not in battle, she wears an old styled dress normally obscured by her armor. She is actually older than her appearance would show, as her body did not age from the moment she pulled Caliburn from the stone to the time of her death. The age of her body was probably a year younger than Shirou. Due to her inability to dematerialize, she needs to wear modern clothing in order to travel in public. During the Fourth Holy Grail War, Irisviel decides to match Saber's clothing with her own appearance by dressing her as a man. She, making dressing up Saber more of a hobby than required, takes Saber's measurements for a tailor shop at the Frankfurt airport, and has a dark blue dress shirt and necktie with a French continental dark suit prepared for her. Saber likes its ability to allow her to move freely, and has no troubles posing as a man due to her time as king. While it would normally seem strange to dress a young woman under 155 cm in such a fashion, it is not so regarding Saber. The idea lacks the perverted beauty of having a beautiful woman dressed as a man, but instead suits the air of Saber's cold and hard face that doesn't give off a feminine complexion. It can be called a given that her disguised in such a way gives the impression of being a beautiful young man, and along with her thin stature, her glamorous and fair-skinned face can pass as the manly, charming air of a pure young man. Outside of battle, she is well-mannered, graceful, and ladylike. Despite this, she appears to become very uncomfortable whenever she is treated as a girl, likely because of her background as a knight. In spite of this, upon first seeing her, Shiro is instantly mesmerized by her feminine beauty. Rin Tohsaka prepared clothes for Saber, a skirt and shirt. Originally it was Rin's birthday present from Kotomine Kirei. History Identity Saber's true identity is Altria Pendragon (アルトリア・ペンドラゴン, Arutoria・Pendoragon?) (also romanized as Artoria and Arturia), better known as Arthur Pendragon (アーサー・ペンドラゴン, Āsā・Pendoragon?) and King Arthur, who is regarded as a male in history. She is the "Once and Future King" and a legendary hero of England known as the King of Knights (騎士王). She wielded the sword from the stone, Caliburn, but it was eventually destroyed. She later obtained Excalibur and Avalon from the Lady of the Lake. While Arthur is a hero well known as a model for knights, it is said that he actually existed as "Dux Bellorum", the king of War, and was a great general who led the twelve kings of Northern England, Gododdin, while preventing foreign invasion from forces such as the Scottish and the Picts. This identity of the real great leader behind the legend of King Arthur has many variations, and it is thought that there may have been two people who fit the description of the king. One is the full Briton Arthur, while the other is the Roman Arturius, and their two separate sets of accomplishments are said to have merged into the legend of King Arthur that is known in the present time. Childhood Altria was born into a time of chaos and war that began with the demise of the Roman empire. It had been believed to be indestructible, but it was only awaiting its destruction at the hands of invading barbarians. In preparation for the war against the barbarians, Rome deprived her island province of any military forces left there. Once Britannia lost the empire's protection, it could not escape becoming independent, causing it to break into smaller countries soon after. This time of barbarian invasions and self-destructive strife between clans started a long period of war that would later become known as the "Dark Ages. Altria was born into this period as the heir to the throne, the daughter of the King of Britain, Uther Pendragon, and the blue-eyed Igraine, the wife of Uther's servant, the Duke of Cornwall. The king, believing in Merlin's prophecy, yearned for the birth of his appointed successor, but the child born was not the one he desired. It is said in the legend that Arthur was left in Merlin's care as the price for his assistance in ensuring the success for Uther's love of Igraine, saying "I will properly guide this child, one bearing a great destiny, and protect him from the crisis of the royal family." The true reality was that Altria was not a boy, so the king could not make a child that was not male his successor even if she was fated to one day become a king. She was entrusted to the king's vassals and was to be raised as the child of a mere knight. The king fell into despair at the situation, but Merlin was delighted because the sex of the one to become king had never mattered. He was confident that the fact of the girl being separated from the castle until the day of prophecy was proof that she would become king. Merlin placed Altria in the care of Sir Ector, a simple and wise old knight, who raised her as his adopted child and successor. Though Ector did not believe in the prophecy, he did feel the same air from the girl as he did his king. He felt that he must raise her as a knight, and he wished for her to grow. He never needed to wish for such a thing, as she trained day after day to become stronger than anyone. She swore to bear her sword for the only reason that "only a king can save a ruined country headed for death" without ever being told such. During this time, she was raised with Sir Kay as her brother, but they still loved each other as siblings after she learned the truth of their relationship. She acted as his squire and received training from him, while also doing other chores such as pulling along his horse. She was better than him in terms of swordsmanship, but she never beat him in a fight due to his arguments declaring himself the winner rather than actual skill. Once the day of prophecy arrived, knights and lords from around the country gathered to be selected as king. Each expected the selection to be through jousting to select the most superior one to become a king, but the only thing prepared at the place of selection was a naked sword stuck in a stone with a golden inscription on the hilt reading "Whosoe'er pulleth out this sword of this stone is rightwise king born of England." While many knights grabbed the sword trying to follow the command, none were able to pull it out. As the began the expected method of selection by jousting, Altria, only an apprentice not qualified for jousting, neared the deserted stone of selection and reached out for the sword without hesitation. Before grabbing it, Merlin appeared before her to tell her to think things over before taking it. He told her she would no longer be human upon taking hold of the sword, but she only responded with a nod because she has been prepared for the fact that "becoming a king means no longer being human" ever since she was born. She knew that a king is someone who kills everyone to protect everyone. She thought about it every night and shuddered until morning came. While not one day passed where she did not fear that fact, she said that it would end this day. The sword was pulled out as if it were only natural to do so, and the area was filled with light. She became something not human in that instant. The king's gender doesn't matter, and no one will care about the king's appearance or even notice it as long as the king acts like a king. Even if anybody did notice the king was female, it would not be an issue if she was a good king. This started the time of the king who would become a legend. Kingship Altria led Britain from Camelot, and after becoming a feudal lord like her father, she became a king with many knights under her, including the esteemed Knights of the Round Table. Her growth stopped at that time she pulled the sword because of its magic, so many knights feared it as ominous. Most instead praised their master's immortality as divine. Her battles thereafter were the acts of a god of war. She always led from the front, and no enemies could stand in her way. There was no defeat for a body admired as a dragon in human form. She only knew victory for ten years and twelve battles while she ran through those days as the king. She never turned back and was never disgraced. She was raised as a king and fulfilled her obligations as the king. Due to some unknown reason, Merlin used magecraft to turn her into a psuedo-male capable of producing sperm for an unknown duration of time. During this period, she was enchanted by her sister, Morgan le Fay, who took some of Altria's sperm, developed it within her own ovaries, and gave birth to the homunculus and complete clone of Altria, Mordred. She was born and raised without Altria's knowledge, quickly growing up due to her accelerated aging, and she managed to join the Round Table through her own efforts and Morgan's recommendation. She worshipped her king while hiding her identity, and she was ecstatic to learn of her heritage. Upon claiming her heritage and right to the throne, Altria completely rejected Mordred, and refused to recognize her as an heir. Mordred believed the reason that she was not accepted was due to the hatred her father bore Morgan, and that no matter how much she worked to excel over others, she would forever be viewed as a tainted existence. The love she had for the king up until that point was so great that her rejection made her hatred burn. She married Guinevere, but it was only out of obligation to have a wife. The truth was that Lancelot, one of Altria's closest friends, and Guinevere loved each other, and due to Altria having concealed her gender, Guinevere had to carry the burden of this her entire life. Guinevere felt guilt for her actions, but felt relief that it was Lancelot who had fallen in love with her. He, who shared the same ideals as the king, would share the burden with her and not cause the country to fall into a dangerous situation. He did so, supporting Guinevere and the King from the dark on his unrighteous path. Altria needed to act as the son of the king, as the one to govern the many territories and control the knights had to be male. While some people did grow suspicious of her, only her father, Merlin, and Kay knew the exact truth of her identity. She literally covered herself in steel to seal that truth for all her life, and due to her immortality from the protection of the fairies, no one questioned her small body or face that seemed like that of a girl. She was honored by the knights as a good-looking king, thought of as an invincible warrior whose looks or body size had impact on her standing. During that time, the people living in fear savage invasions only wanted a strong king, and the knights would only follow a excellent commander. Having met these criteria, no one questioned her. She was considered fair and selfless as she always stood at the front of the army while defeating her enemies on the battlefield. While many enemies and civilians died, the king's choices were always considered correct, and she served as the king better than anyone else. No one doubted or had any need to doubt as long as the king was right. Her army reconstructed the lost cavalry, and knowing no losses, they ran through the battlefield while defeating foreign infantries and crashing through numerous ramparts. Many people were discarded for her to join the battles, and all her enemies had do be defeated once she joined. It was common practice for the military to meet its needs by sucking all the resources out of a local village to supply the battle to protect the country. It can be said that no knight killed more people than her, and it is unknown if she ever found such to be a burden. She strictly kept to the oath that a king is not human and that one cannot protect the people with human emotions. She never narrowed her eyes in grief while sitting on the throne, and she settled every problem while working hard in government affairs. She managed to balance the country without any deviations, and she punished people without a single mistake. Even after, or possibly because of, winning battles in victory, commanding citizens without disorder, and punishing hundreds of criminals, one of her knights murmured "King Arthur does not understand human feelings." It is possible everyone felt that way, that the more perfect she became as a king, the more they needed to question her as a ruler. The felt that a human without emotion cannot rule over others, leading to several reputable knights leaving Camelot. She simply accepted this to be a natural event that is part of the process of government, isolating the fair king honored by her knights. Having abandoned her emotions from the start, she did not change her mind even if she was abandoned, feared, or betrayed. There was no right or wrong to someone who saw such events as trivial. Her final battle for her country began in such a way, and the battle at Badon Hill ended in complete victory. The savages sought reconciliation due to her overwhelming results, and her country that was only awaiting destruction earned a brief period of peace. The country finally began to return to the country of which she had dreamed. Downfall Lancelot's affair with Guinevere was eventually revealed through the plans of traitors who hated Camelot, causing them to stand opposed. Altria did not see this inescapably unrighteous action as a betrayal, but instead understood Guinevere's sacrifice due to having concealed her gender. She still acted in the capacity of a king, and Guinevere was to be executed. Lancelot could not stand by while she was killed, bringing about a tragedy where no one was right and no one was wrong. Excalibur's scabbard was stolen while she repelled an assault along her country's borders; when she returned inland, she discovered Britain is being torn asunder by civil unrest. Despite her valiant efforts to placate the dissent, she was mortally wounded by the traitorous knight Mordred during the Battle of Camlann. Her dying body was escorted to a holy isle by Sir Bedivere. Altria ordered a grieving Bedivere to dispose of Excalibur by throwing it back to Vivian; in her absence, she reflected on her personal failures, regretting her life as king. Before her last breath, she appealed to the world; in exchange for services as a Heroic Spirit, she asked to be given an opportunity seek the Holy Grail to save her country. Personality Saber is a strong-willed young woman who always speaks resolutely. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. She constantly insists that she is a knight first and that her gender is of little importance to her. She is resolute in following her own morals regardless of more viable tactics being available should she consider them to be underhanded, leading to conflicts with Kiritsugu over the strategy within the Fourth Holy Grail War. While obtaining the Holy Grail is of the utmost importance, rejecting her chivalry is something that she will not do under normal circumstance even if it should put her at a disadvantage. She doesn't like to be treated as a woman, or even as a human, due to her status as a knight and a Servant. She tries to keep the notion that she is only a Servant, a tool for her Master, first and foremost in her mind, so she initially has no objections about Shirou accidentally seeing her naked body. She slowly becomes more aware of herself after their relationship develops, and eventually even becomes flustered upon the same situation being repeated. She is unwilling to show emotions, as she has suppressed them so strongly and views herself as a knight foremost. Even though she attempts to hide them, her insecurities become more and more apparent, and she later begins to open up more and show her emotions more easily, especially to Shirou. Saber is loyal, independent, and reserved; she appears cold, but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. She is bewildered by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, and believes his erratic and reckless behavior jeopardizes her chances of winning the Holy Grail War. She is shown to have a humongous appetite, finishing large servings of rice within one minute. Although she can normally eat anything, Shirou's food education is what awoke her gourmet spirit. She originally did not appreciate modern food because she doesn't actually need to eat as a Servant and because she had believed that all food was like fish and chips. She had very bad experiences with the food in her time, being limited to meals like large quantities of potatoes, vinegar, bread, and ale or even at times simply eating vegetables alone. She did not concern herself with food much in her life, allowing the cooks to do as they wished. She felt it was unrefined, although she was not displeased by it. She does shudder at the thought of eating it compared to Shirou's cooking. She thought it had been made to suit the tastes of the knights because they acknowledged it as tasting good, but they simply were unable to say it was bad to the King's face. Gawain was an exception who enjoyed the meals, not noticing the others' distaste for it. She prefers direct, fair confrontations based upon codes of chivalry, so she has a strained relationship with Kiritsugu due to their differing methods and ideologies over obtaining the Holy Grail. The two rarely interact, and, as a result, Saber instead bonds with her proxy Master, Irisviel. Saber enjoys her time with Irisviel, who, while respecting her status as a knight, treats her much as companion and friend, unlike Kiritsugu who completely views her as a tool. She guides Irisviel around while she takes in her first view of the outside world. She is very cold and merciless to Ilya during most of Fate/stay night despite her being Irisviel's daughter. This is due to the fact that she never asked Irisviel about the name of her daughter, and when Saber sees Ilya during the war, she completely disregards the possibility that it could be the same child. She believes that Ilya is too young to be the girl she saw getting a piggy-back ride ten years before, and she believes that she would have become more mature like her mother by the time of the Fifth Holy Grail War. She reasons that Ilya is a new homunculus completely unrelated to Irisviel with similarities in her appearance due to the Einzbern homunculi looking alike after their creation. Given a chance to casually interact with her, while she doesn't trust Ilya at first, she is eventually able to act nicely around her. She is able to freely have fun around her without any worries. She enjoyed a sport, an ancestor of golf, that used swords to play on large stretches of land during her lifetime. It can be called “something like golf that was around before golf was conceived. Abilities The Saber class is considered the "Most Outstanding" due to its excellent ratings in all categories, and Saber doesn't fall short of that reputation. She is left very underpowered for the majority of the Fifth Holy Grail War due to Shirou's extremely bad aptitude and being unable to provide her with mana due to his Magical Paths being obstructed. She is not able to achieve the power she had during life, so she cannot be said to have the abilities of the greatest Servant in that state. She is stronger under Kiritsugu, but her luck is decreased because he cannot provide sufficient prana and it is instead affected by the Master's way of life. After she forms a proper contract with Rin, she displays her original abilities without being affected by the Master. She can barely keep up with Berserker using all of her strength while weakened, but Shirou believes that not even he would be able to stand against her at full strength. She is also strengthened under Caster, but doesn't display it due to being incapacitated by the Command Spell. Saber Alter, having been provided with Sakura's nearly infinite prana, can be said to have even more power than she had in life and gains the ability to overwhelm even Berserker in a head-on fight. She is blackened by the mud from the Holy Grail in the form of the Shadow, and she is incarnated by the power of the Grail to have more concrete ties to the physical plane. This makes her into a powerful being, and while Blackened Servants cannot return to spirit form, Saber never had the ability even as a regular Servant. She does gain the ability to travel quickly by sinking into the Shadow and moving elsewhere at Sakura's command. Due to no longer having to restrain her prana consumption, she has lost her limitations, causing her fighting ability and destructive power to jump significantly, comparative to a runaway train, but fine control is no longer possible for her. She is the strongest in straightforward attack power, and she is probably, without dispute, the strongest Servant. Unlike other Heroic Spirits who can fit under multiple classes, she claims that she is only suited to the Saber class. She has the capacity to qualify for the Caster class, but "magecraft is not the way of the King" and she lacks the patience to actually learn magecraft. If she were to be summoned in western Europe, she would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and she would display a much sharper increase in power in England. Combat She is extremely skilled with a sword. Even unarmed and faced with a surprise attack from Taiga, said to be an unmatched kendo expert, Saber is able to easily disarm her without even taking a stance. She takes up teaching Shirou, but only focuses on giving him as much battle experience as possible because she does not have an aptitude for teaching others. While her ability as a swordsman is proficient, it is not where her true strength lies, but rather her enormous amount of magical energy. She believes that there is no Servant that surpasses her in close combat, and she is certain that she can clear an escape route from the battlefield under any disadvantageous situation. Her initial Noble Phantasm is always Invisible Air, allowing her to hide her identity and main weapon, Excalibur, while also confusing opponents with an invisible sword. She can also release it in a large blast of air and cover other objects with it. She eventually releases Excalibur when necessary, allowing her to unleash a large slash of light capable of wiping out almost anything it its path. She lost Avalon in life, but the genuine article still exists in the present. While it is kept from her during the Fourth Holy Grail War, it is returned during the Fate route of the Fifth War, giving her more energy and allowing her defend against any attack in combat. She also lost Caliburn in the past, and while she can no longer use it, she is able to make use of Shirou's projection to slay Berseker. Saber utilizes armor woven by her prana and it can be called part of her body, so it can be called forth for battle and dismissed for normal interactions. It is heavy, hard silver-white and azure armor including gauntlets, greaves, a breastplate, and long tassets shaped like a skirt that act as impregnable defenses made from magical energy overpowering others. She has to will it away manually and it doesn't fade when she is unconscious, so Rin is able to remove it from her like it is normal armor. While she normally wears a casual outfit, removing her armor during battle leaves her with a blue dress that she wears under it. Being made from her energy, it is weak against abilities that target prana like Gae Dearg. It cannot be permanently damaged no matter how much it is slashed, chipped, or smashed, as she can instantly repair it with her own energy. It costs a great deal to protect herself by forming, maintaining, and repairing it, so she may have to forgo healing her body to repair the armor. Maintaining her armor is the same as maintaining her body, so she keeps it off when possible to preserve her dwindling power. The cost of doing so in battle can be deadly, but it can also grant her a boost in power that proves greater than the handicap of losing it. She can dismiss it simply by cutting off the prana supplied to it, causing it to fade into mist as it breaks into metallic dust. She can manipulate it through psychokinesis, allowing her to impart it on objects of her choice like the Yamaha V-Max. She has a potent healing ability due to regeneration magic that automatically heals her wounds. It takes her own energy to heal wounds, so she relies on support from her Master if possible. While large, the first wound from Berserker heals in an hour, but the wound from Gae Bolg only heals on the outside and does not completely until Lancer's death due to its curse. Avalon's natural healing abilities greatly increases her healing potential, and it is able to heal her without using her own prana. It is not without limits, so it takes a number of minutes to recover from the backlash of Ea. Saber Alter's regeneration is bolstered by the almost infinite source of magical energy from Sakura, healing even fatal wounds in ten minutes and requiring the destruction of her head or heart for immediate death. She has a high level of Charisma, noted to be a rare talent, and her rank reflects her time leading her country as king. Her influence was not enough to build a grand empire on global scale, so it remained at rank B, sufficient Charisma to rule one country. While she was a guardian of the British Isles, not even her charisma could stop the kingdom from crumbling. As the natural talent to lead an army, it increases the ability of her army during mass combat. Saber Alter's Charisma is much lower, and it increases her leadership while dramatically lowering the morale of her soldiers. Saber is easily able to battle alongside others, and even though she and Lancer only fought once, she was able to etch all of his secret techniques into her memory after having fought with their lives on the line. They are able to understand each other without explanation, allowing Lancer to understand her skills and intentions to pull off an impromptu plan that required complete synchronization between them. She is definitely not a Servant excelling in searching for the enemy, and it is more likely she would be found by enemies while wandering about. As a Servant who can defy normal physics, she is capable of running directly up a building. She is unable to fly through the sky, but she can repeatedly kick off of the building to gain momentum. It is no different than free falling, only that she is rising until she looses her speed rather than plummeting downward. After having started, she must continue until she reaches the final destination of the rooftop. If she were to take any blows during the process, she would just fall to the ground. Such battle is so alien to her, as it is her first time engaging in an air battle as a knight who runs on the ground, that her inexperience makes her evenly matched with Rider who she normally had a great advantage over in close combat. She cannot be impeded by water due to her body having received divine blessing from the Lady of the Lake. The miracle from the blessing allows her to advance undeterred on water at full sprinting speed, which gains hardness identical to ground even while her feet splash against the surface. Command Spells allow for the temporary strengthening of Servants, enough to fill Saber's enormous circuit, allowing for the one who ruled over the battlefields in the age of legends to be reborn. While going against Command Spells brings down a Servant's abilities, their effectiveness increases with the consent of both parties, allowing them to enforce the Servant's actions and possibly support and amplify them beyond what is normally possible. This makes Spatial Transportation, magecraft close to the level of Magic, possible, and allows for Saber to perform normally impossible physical feats. Shirou commanding her to fly fills her with energy and allows her to directly fly towards Archer on top of a building four kilometers away. It uses the same principal as leaping up a vertical building, but with much more energy behind it. Using all of the energy of the Command Spell on the one action allows her to increase the distance she can jump, effectively reducing the distance to zero in an instant. She is able to match the speed of Hrunting, allowing her to kill Archer in the same instant it reaches Shirou. While she has gained knowledge on modern times from the Holy Grail, knowledge about other Heroic Spirits comes from the Throne of Heroes. She is able to recognize heroes like Cú Chulainn, but is unable to know of the legend behind Gilles de Rais or Joan of Arc. Gallery Category:Fate Characters Category:PC Debut Category:All Characters